Speedy update
I promise to come back here and talk about silly list things and include more pictures of cats but in the meantime I’m blogging about more general stuff over at www.joannawalters.co.uk
At the mo it is largely academic digital marketing stuff related to my course but who knows what else I might end up including (presumably cats will find their way in…)
Jo x
Filed under: Update | Leave a Comment
I’m 26
Yep, my year of being 25 is over and nope I haven’t done everything on my list. I’ve done lots that I haven’t blogged about so will post those over the next few months.
I’m going to keep going as I’d like to do everything on my list but for now I’ll leave you with a picture of me on the dodgems on my birthday (it seemed like a list kind of thing to do!)
Jo x
Filed under: The challenge, Update | Leave a Comment
177 – Watch ‘Big Daddy’
Marcelle, a student from my work, decided to give me a rather random assortment of list things starting, for some unknown reason, with watching the Adam Sandler classic/cheesefest ‘Big Daddy‘. Ever a fan of list things I can do from my sofa I duly complied.
IMDb summarises the plot thus…
A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn’t go as planned and he becomes the unlikely foster father
I don’t want to spoil the film for those of you who haven’t seen it but after some ‘crazy’ japes and a couple of predictable heartfelt moments the film descends into mediocrity.
I actually spent the first half an hour of the film trying to remember if I’d already seen it or whether it was such a good example of the lightweight comedy films by number that I seem to watch so often (and usually love to be fair) that I’d got it confused with something else. Eventually I decided I had already seen it which further ruined any hopes of suprise plot twists or clever subtexts.
I’m being quite harsh really, it is a perfectly fine film and has a cute kid in it (the one that played Ben in Friends) which always improves a film tenfold for me! Worth watching if there is nothing else on and you’re an Adam Sandler fan (which I tend not to be unfortunately, I’ve never forgiven him for 50 First Dates).
Jo x
Filed under: Done | 1 Comment
I love this blog – Not That Kind of Girl – proof that I am not the only person in the world oddly obsessed with doing 250 unusual things in a year then telling everyone about it.
Go read it, I dare you
Jo x
Filed under: The challenge | Leave a Comment
This is another suggestion from my brother who managed to come up with a mix of thoughtful and bizzare things for my list.
I feel I should confess loyal reader, my name is Jo and I am a hoarder. Over the years I’ve built up collections of soaps, novelty pens, pebbles from holidays and all sorts of random junk. Recently I’ve started getting rid of some of the more obviously pointless things (often by fobbing them off onto other people – special thanks must go to my Mum and friend Em who are too polite to tell me they don’t want the random bags of things I’ve offered them).
Over the past year my decluttering has stepped up a gear and this week I took lots of bags of things to Oxfam, my favourite charity shop. My new passion for getting rid of things comes partly from reading blogs such as Unclutterer.com but also from realising how much junk I’ve been hanging onto for years. As I’ve lived in my flat for several years now I’ve been spared the shame of coming face to face with my stuff whilst piling it into boxes (and then inevitably watching my Dad roll his eyes at just how many pairs of fairy wings and cute but empty gift boxes I’ve managed to accumulate).
For my Big Clear Out (things look far more impressive in capital letters, then they feel like a Project – I’m a fan of Projects) my rules were;
- Will I ever use/wear/want it?
- Seriously?!
- If I’m certain I’ll use/wear/want it then why haven’t I done it for ages? This has involved some questionable outfit choices as I try to justify keeping some of the clothes I never seem to wear
- How much would it cost me to buy a new one? My big weakness is ‘I might use it one day’ which, whilst thrifty and eco-friendly, means I have countless extra things lying around and gathering dust
My big pile of charity shop things adorned my hallway (replace the word ‘adorned’ with ‘cluttered up and made it look like a jumble sale’) for a year and was a good reminder that I should be looking for things to get rid of as well as a more general reminder not to pick up more junk to lovingly cherish (by stuffing into a drawer and ignoring it for years). As well as the charity shop stuff there was an awful lot of recycling (where possible) and chucking out (where not) so I’ve generated lots of nice empty space – and I plan to keep it that way!
All in all, I’ve taken one big box and five big bags of stuff to be turned into money by Oxfam and become someone else’s junk! Oxfam, like many other charity shops, have introduced a ‘Tag Your Bag’ Gift Aid scheme that means they can reclaim money from the taxman (wouldn’t we all like to do that?!) so my stuff is worth an extra 28% to them.They’ll also be writing to me at some point to let me know how much my hoard has made for them, I plan to add this total to the £250 I’m raising for charity this year.
I was tempted to include a note pointing out that the stuff is mine so will a) be worth extra anyway as I am basically a celebrity, and b) be worth more when this blog becomes a bestselling book then film. In the end I decided not to so I didn’t look like a moron (I was already quite embarrassed by some of the random stuff I was donating and didn’t want them to judge me anymore than was necessary!)
Being a hoarder for ages I didn’t think I’d find uncluttering so easy and oddly enjoyable. I’d encourage you to have a rummage through your random stuff – much better it is making money for charity than lounging around taking up space in your house right?
Jo x
Filed under: Done | Leave a Comment
Tags: 41, 97
250 while I'm 25 